Something is going to die soon!!

I understand the occasional loose of a bird due to a predator being hungry but enough is enough!!! I went out yesterday morning to find one of my mescoveys missing its head, no other marks on the body. It must have been a mink, I then found the head a few feet from the body. OK, I am mad.. I put one of our healers in a pen conected to the large bird pen figuring that if something comes it the barking will scare it off. We went to bed and around 11 I woke up to hear Jed barking. DH went out and found my polish roo that wouldnt go in with the chickens dead. It had some head trama but otherwise no other marks. DH figures that what ever it was is gone and put Jed back in his kennel for the night. I got up this morning and realized that 3 of my guineas are gone. I found feathers for one of them so unfortunately I know that he is most likely dead. I am still holding out hope that the other 2 flew into the nearby cornfield to get away and just havent come back yet... I thought that I had also lost my little call duck hen but have seen her in one of the huge dog houses that are in there for shelter. She is still so scared that she hasnt come out yet. This evening when my daycare kids leave I am going to catch her and put her back in with my young guineas and chicks that go into a large coop for the night. I am half tempted to catch the last 4 guineas and put them in there too but I am not sure how they will react to the young ones and I dont want them hurting them either. I think I will be up for the night with the shotgun tonight. I have to rig doors on the pens and try to chase everyone else into the different shelters and shut them in for the night. I am always worried that something might get into those and then they would be sitting ducks ( no pun intended)... What ever it is doesnt seem to go after the turkeys or geese so I am figuring that it is smaller then they are. Hopefully in the next night or so it will be a dead something!! Sorry to vent, just get mad when more dies then needed.. Jenn

I'm sorry for your loss. If the chicks are in pens, coops, runs is it possible to leave Jed loose at night? Our GSD Rex is the only reason predators haven't wiped out our flock, in fact haven't gotten a single one, because our run has no top, the coop is left open day and night and they free range all day and we have woods, river and every predator. Last night was a particuarly busy night for Rex because I heard him barking many times and running into the woods. He has been guarding and sleeping with the chicks since they were hatched but he would be no good as a guard if he was chained or locked up. Dogs go by smell and Rex smells something long before it ever gets close to our home and the coop and off he goes. Barking will only deter something so far and when it figures out the dog can't get loose, it will proceed. If Jed won't turn into a predator himself, leave him loose at night.

well I sure hope you get whatever is killing your birds I lock mine up nice and tight every night even it means doing a hunt for a stray bird that thought it found a good spot to hide from me since doing this I have not lost any other bird and they soon get the routine down pact and go in on their own to be locked up. Good luck on your predator hunt tonight!

I am tempted to let him run during the night , the only thing is he is an intacted male since we used to raise cattle dogs so I dont want him to run off either.. I was tempted to leave him in the pen with everyone too since he doesnt seem to find interest in chasing them either, but then of course I dont want to wake up to a whole flock of dead birds because he realized that was kinda fun. I have a young female that would be great with them but I am worried that she would charge what ever it is and get into a fight with it and get hurt. If it is a large she coon Missy would have quite a fight on her hands. I have to see over the next couple nights if I can see what it is and then go from there. I wish this was friday and not monday.. Always something!! Jenn

Well the thing with leaving the dog loose is that the coon or predator can also smell the dog and won't come near. In all the time that Rex has remained loose he has not run off once and he has not gotten into a fight with anything. Of course I'm sure any coon that smells, sees and hears Rex coming towards him takes off. No coon in it's right mind is going to get close enough to a loose dog to get in a fight. Maybe you can leave Jed on a long lead outside the pen - that way he can't run off but he can run around and towards something if it tried coming near. Rex too was intact when we started letting him stay out but we had him neutered when it became apparent that he wanted to stay out at night with the chicks. But so far, since chicks, no running off at all. Before chicks - it was a real problem - he lived inside with us 24/7 and we'd let him out to pee at night and he would take off. Now he seems to know he has a job and hasn't left the backyard since.